A few recent experiences - the type I've seemed to experience many times over the years like buying a yesterday's newspaper and being asked by the clerk afterwards if I "grabbed it from the right pile" or complaining to the E.G. Nick's manager about the caked-on dried mud on my baked potato and being told "Well they do grow in the ground sir" - the list goes on and I have two more to add...
Recently at the Taco Bell in Keego Harbor I asked for a cup of water at the drive thru to go with my food and was told they can't do that because they don't have cups for water. This is horrible customer service - I just finished reading a book about word of mouth marketing detailing how the power has shifted to the consumer like never before because of blogs like the one I'm writing. Not that tons of people read this, but they just pissed off and lost a customer over a lousy 10 cent cup that they refused to put a little water in for me. Last I checked the physical properties of water were similar enough to most other digestible liquids that it doesn't require a special cup.
This one is better. I bought a surround sound system to put in our studio in West Bloomfield (Frameable Faces www.frameablefaces.com is my wife's photography studio in the Orchard Mall at Maple and Orchard Lake if you didn't know) and I got a great deal on a Yamaha floor model. The floor model came with the remote control, but when I set it up at the studio I discovered that it was in fact the wrong remote control and would not work with this system. After a couple of phone conversations with ABC and a failure for them to call me back to resolve it like they said they would I went up there with my wrong remote to get some resolution. The first person I spoke to was a guy whose name I think was Tracy. He went into the back to check for remotes but couldn't find one. The conversation then went like this:
Me: So what do I do now?
Tracy: Well when we sell the floor units they come "as is" so......
Me: Yeah but in this case "as is" included the remote control
Tracy: Well obviously it didn't because that's the wrong remote
Can you f--king believe he actually said that to me? Like I'm the dumb ass for falling for the ol' give 'em the wrong remote trick.
Me: Well the problem is it was presented to me as the right remote you see
Tracy: Well I can't help you - you'll have to talk to the manager
Me: Where's the manager
The manager hemmed and hawed, putzed around looking at their universal remote selection and then told me that he'd be willing to refund my money if I wanted to bring the system back. I told him I don't want to bring it back, I want it the way it was sold to me. He passed me off to another guy who ultimately took care of it, having me purchase the remote from a website right there in the store and then refunding the amount on my original sale so the correct remote wouldn't cost me anything. I do love the system I bought, and they did make it right eventually, but they need to evaluate and coach some of the folks they have on the floor there who deal directly with customers.
Ending on a positive note I had a coconut curry fried rice with onions and chicken at Thai Peppers tonight on Orchard Lake Rd in Farmington Hills. Interestingly enough I ordered it and then just for assurance asked if it was good, and the waitress tried to steer me away from it, saying the last person who ordered it took two bites and had enough. I ordered it anyway because A) the food is great there and has been for years even through a couple of ownership changes B) the menu description was what I wanted and C) my curiosity was now raised and I needed to know if it was really that horrible. A bit of a risky move to be sure. I can't remember the name of the dish now, but it was the 6th and last item in the fried rice section of the menu and it was AWESOME. I highly recommend it.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Real vs. Natural, Some new tunes
Stupid item (and subsequent crazed rant) of the day... I noticed while eating my bowl of Banana Nut Cheerios (which is one of the best cereals ever) that on the front cover of the box it advertises the product as being flavored with REAL Banana AND Natural Banana flavor. I'll let you ponder that for a second...
What in blazes is the difference between real bananas and natural banana flavor? So wouldn't natural banana flavor come from an actual banana which they already just told us is in the cereal? I hate the commercial food industry with its high fructose corn syrup, mass doses of sodium and blue no. 2. I love food but I hate stupid B.S. and this is clearly stupid B.S. Wow - real bananas, and as if that weren't enough, natural banana flavor added just in case the bananas they used didn't happen to have banana flavor of their own! AMAZING!!! Wait - there's more if you act now etc. etc. etc..... Did I mention I love the cereal? I'm ranting about a cereal I love and a relatively healthy one at that. Yes I need a life I suppose...
On another note I got a glimpse of what my summer will sound like with some new stuff. The new Black Sabbath - Heaven & Hell - The Devil You Know and the new Church - Untitled #23. At first listen they both sound incredible. I've also picked up the new self-titled Secret Machines album and Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet. They both sound pretty good, and lastly the Raconteurs album Consolers of the Lonely is climbing back into my frequent play list as it's turning out to be more of a grower than I anticipated. What an album.
What in blazes is the difference between real bananas and natural banana flavor? So wouldn't natural banana flavor come from an actual banana which they already just told us is in the cereal? I hate the commercial food industry with its high fructose corn syrup, mass doses of sodium and blue no. 2. I love food but I hate stupid B.S. and this is clearly stupid B.S. Wow - real bananas, and as if that weren't enough, natural banana flavor added just in case the bananas they used didn't happen to have banana flavor of their own! AMAZING!!! Wait - there's more if you act now etc. etc. etc..... Did I mention I love the cereal? I'm ranting about a cereal I love and a relatively healthy one at that. Yes I need a life I suppose...
On another note I got a glimpse of what my summer will sound like with some new stuff. The new Black Sabbath - Heaven & Hell - The Devil You Know and the new Church - Untitled #23. At first listen they both sound incredible. I've also picked up the new self-titled Secret Machines album and Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet. They both sound pretty good, and lastly the Raconteurs album Consolers of the Lonely is climbing back into my frequent play list as it's turning out to be more of a grower than I anticipated. What an album.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Road Trip! Music, Food, History, America.
So here is the rundown on our trip across this great country...
Thursday - We drove from West Bloomfield, MI to Horse Cave, KY and it rained buckets for the last 3 hours of the drive from Cincinnati to the hotel. Miserable. We could see the lightning off in the distance from the Skyline Chili north of Dayton. Skyline Chili http://www.skylinechili.com/ still rocks, and this began what ended up being as much of a food tour as a history tour... Pink Floyd Meddle is a great night time disc and this was a great listen. Listening to Meddle during a night time drive takes me back to the best Meddle experience I've had driving from Jerusalem to Masada in the middle of the night to get there for the climb to the top to watch the sunrise back in '94 - but I digress... We actually kicked off the trip with the 2 new Prince discs LotusFlow3r and MPLSound and these both sound great at first run through. Major potential here - 3 songs in I thought that if the first album ended right here it would already be twice as strong as Planet Earth.
Friday - We ate the complimentary breakfast at the Hampton Inn and hit the road. Thought we'd stop at a cave but it was over an hour wait and we needed to stay on course to get to Pensacola - only time for one stop, so we made it at the Hermitage just outside of Nashville. The Hermitage is Andrew Jackson's home and it is pretty impressive. http://www.thehermitage.com/ Good museum, nice grounds and the house is in great shape. They say it's one of the most well preserved presidential homes with about 90% of the furnishings, wallpaper etc. being original. Strange that I came away learning more about the actual house and history of the estate than I did about President Jackson himself. That might be my next book although I'm eyeing bios of Lincoln, Polk, and Teddy Roosevelt as well. Afterwards we got back on the road and got some Gov't Mule and Allman Brothers going for the deeper push into the South. We stopped in Bessemer, AL for BBQ at Bob Sykes. www.bobsykes.com This place is ridiculous - worth the detour if you are ever in the Birmingham, AL area. We found it on www.roadfood.com which is an awesome website. Got back on the road stuffed and ready to puke, pass out, or both. Night time driving - Porcupine Tree and The Church... rolled into Pensacola around 10:30.
Saturday - spent time with family all day and ate dinner at the Oar House - good food and live music. http://www.myspace.com/theoarhouse
Sunday - got on the road around 1 and headed to Fort Blakeley, AL. http://new.siteone.com/sites/blakeleypark.com/ Site of the last battle of the Civil War - happened later in the day after the surrender at Appomattox took place. Parts of this battlefield are really well preserved and they were having a reenactment there. Very impressive - live artillery, a full battalion assault, Union and Confederate cavalry dualing with swords on horseback. Awesome to see - like watching the Civil War happening right before your eyes. Of course got into some friendly banter with some crazy Alabama and Auburn fans. The Alabama guy was driving the bus at the park and was hardcore boy... I told him I hoped he wasn't still upset about the 2 times out of 3 that we beat them. He had respect for Michigan and didn't try to talk any SEC smack. From there we headed West and Northwest through Mobile and up to Hattiesburg, MS. Nice drive across Mobile Bay and through Mississippi. We took a little drive through the Southern Miss campus - very charming campus and a cool football stadium with Brett Farve's number retired. We ate at the Crescent City Grill http://www.nsrg.com/crescent.asp and the food was fantastic - I had the fried catfish over dirty rice smothered in crawfish etouffee and we split the New Orleans bread pudding and buttered pecan pie with a little Haagen Daaz vanilla ice cream on top. We pulled into Corinth at another Hampton Inn that night. The hotel stands on what was part of the Corinth Battlefield.
Monday - Spent the morning touring the Corinth Battlefield - more to see than I anticipated and didn't get to see it all. Horrible weather - very cold and drizzly. Drove through back country roads from there to Shiloh National Battlefield and spent a few hours there. http://www.nps.gov/shil/ Had my battlefield disc going (INXS Listen Like Thieves). Awesome battlefield. We met a man at the visitor's center whose grandfather fought in the battle. His grandfather was 18 in 1862, had this guy's dad in 1908 when he was 64, and this guy was born in 1953 when his dad was 45. It works out - you don't expect people walking around being able to say their grandpa fought at Shiloh! I suppose there could be a 90 year old walking around somewhere whose grandpa fought in the Revolution? They would have to have been born in 1919 say, to a 74 year old born in 1845 to a 73 year old born in 1772 who fought at the age of 16 in 1788... Anyway, Shiloh is perfectly preserved and totally unencumbered by commercialization of any sort. The battlefield is well marked to get a complete understanding of the fight that took place there on those two fateful days - 147 years to the day before we were standing there when it started on April 6th. The only drawback was the weather - it was freaking hailing on us! We left Shiloh and headed Northwest through beautful country roads to the Natchez Trace National Parkway http://www.nps.gov/natr/ and traveled along it for about 20 miles or so. What a scenic drive (a little REM, more Allmans and Gov't Mule), and along the way stopped at the Meriwether Lewis gravesite and monument. That evening making our way back up to Horse Cave, KY we stopped at another roadfood.com joint outside of Nashville called Sylvan Park Restaurant. Another gem - catfish, fried crab cakes, candied apples, the best mac and cheese ever, fried corn, incredible cornbread, cocunut cream pie (they threw in a couple extra slices for the road on the house) and chess pie. We had never heard of chess pie - amazing! They actually gave us their recipe so we'll be eating it again soon. http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=472
Tuesday - Took a trip over to Abe Lincoln's birthplace and boyhood home in Hodgenville, KY. http://www.nps.gov/abli/ Great visitor's center and a really impressive monument to Abe Lincoln with 56 steps for each year of his life. The actual water spring that they used for their water supply was still there and still running. From there we made one last stop in Cincinnati at William Howard Taft's boyhood home. http://www.nps.gov/wiho/ It is the only national site dedicated to Taft and it is worth the stop. I only wish we had a little more time to spend there to look through the exhibits on the upper level of the house. Roadfood directed us to the Camp Washington Chili joint in Cincinnati for the last meal of the trip. Great diner atmosphere and great 5 way chili, but while the locals might disagree with me on this one, it wasn't necessarily better than Skyline Chili.
I highly recommend taking a trip like this. You will find it incredibly relaxing, educational, and rewarding. Make the drive itself the destination and see things you normally wouldn't. The kids had a blast - it was a total adventure for them and they were exposed to so much history and culture. The people we met along the way were all friendly and helpful and we came away with a new appreciation for regions we had never experienced.
Thursday - We drove from West Bloomfield, MI to Horse Cave, KY and it rained buckets for the last 3 hours of the drive from Cincinnati to the hotel. Miserable. We could see the lightning off in the distance from the Skyline Chili north of Dayton. Skyline Chili http://www.skylinechili.com/ still rocks, and this began what ended up being as much of a food tour as a history tour... Pink Floyd Meddle is a great night time disc and this was a great listen. Listening to Meddle during a night time drive takes me back to the best Meddle experience I've had driving from Jerusalem to Masada in the middle of the night to get there for the climb to the top to watch the sunrise back in '94 - but I digress... We actually kicked off the trip with the 2 new Prince discs LotusFlow3r and MPLSound and these both sound great at first run through. Major potential here - 3 songs in I thought that if the first album ended right here it would already be twice as strong as Planet Earth.
Friday - We ate the complimentary breakfast at the Hampton Inn and hit the road. Thought we'd stop at a cave but it was over an hour wait and we needed to stay on course to get to Pensacola - only time for one stop, so we made it at the Hermitage just outside of Nashville. The Hermitage is Andrew Jackson's home and it is pretty impressive. http://www.thehermitage.com/ Good museum, nice grounds and the house is in great shape. They say it's one of the most well preserved presidential homes with about 90% of the furnishings, wallpaper etc. being original. Strange that I came away learning more about the actual house and history of the estate than I did about President Jackson himself. That might be my next book although I'm eyeing bios of Lincoln, Polk, and Teddy Roosevelt as well. Afterwards we got back on the road and got some Gov't Mule and Allman Brothers going for the deeper push into the South. We stopped in Bessemer, AL for BBQ at Bob Sykes. www.bobsykes.com This place is ridiculous - worth the detour if you are ever in the Birmingham, AL area. We found it on www.roadfood.com which is an awesome website. Got back on the road stuffed and ready to puke, pass out, or both. Night time driving - Porcupine Tree and The Church... rolled into Pensacola around 10:30.
Saturday - spent time with family all day and ate dinner at the Oar House - good food and live music. http://www.myspace.com/theoarhouse
Sunday - got on the road around 1 and headed to Fort Blakeley, AL. http://new.siteone.com/sites/blakeleypark.com/ Site of the last battle of the Civil War - happened later in the day after the surrender at Appomattox took place. Parts of this battlefield are really well preserved and they were having a reenactment there. Very impressive - live artillery, a full battalion assault, Union and Confederate cavalry dualing with swords on horseback. Awesome to see - like watching the Civil War happening right before your eyes. Of course got into some friendly banter with some crazy Alabama and Auburn fans. The Alabama guy was driving the bus at the park and was hardcore boy... I told him I hoped he wasn't still upset about the 2 times out of 3 that we beat them. He had respect for Michigan and didn't try to talk any SEC smack. From there we headed West and Northwest through Mobile and up to Hattiesburg, MS. Nice drive across Mobile Bay and through Mississippi. We took a little drive through the Southern Miss campus - very charming campus and a cool football stadium with Brett Farve's number retired. We ate at the Crescent City Grill http://www.nsrg.com/crescent.asp and the food was fantastic - I had the fried catfish over dirty rice smothered in crawfish etouffee and we split the New Orleans bread pudding and buttered pecan pie with a little Haagen Daaz vanilla ice cream on top. We pulled into Corinth at another Hampton Inn that night. The hotel stands on what was part of the Corinth Battlefield.
Monday - Spent the morning touring the Corinth Battlefield - more to see than I anticipated and didn't get to see it all. Horrible weather - very cold and drizzly. Drove through back country roads from there to Shiloh National Battlefield and spent a few hours there. http://www.nps.gov/shil/ Had my battlefield disc going (INXS Listen Like Thieves). Awesome battlefield. We met a man at the visitor's center whose grandfather fought in the battle. His grandfather was 18 in 1862, had this guy's dad in 1908 when he was 64, and this guy was born in 1953 when his dad was 45. It works out - you don't expect people walking around being able to say their grandpa fought at Shiloh! I suppose there could be a 90 year old walking around somewhere whose grandpa fought in the Revolution? They would have to have been born in 1919 say, to a 74 year old born in 1845 to a 73 year old born in 1772 who fought at the age of 16 in 1788... Anyway, Shiloh is perfectly preserved and totally unencumbered by commercialization of any sort. The battlefield is well marked to get a complete understanding of the fight that took place there on those two fateful days - 147 years to the day before we were standing there when it started on April 6th. The only drawback was the weather - it was freaking hailing on us! We left Shiloh and headed Northwest through beautful country roads to the Natchez Trace National Parkway http://www.nps.gov/natr/ and traveled along it for about 20 miles or so. What a scenic drive (a little REM, more Allmans and Gov't Mule), and along the way stopped at the Meriwether Lewis gravesite and monument. That evening making our way back up to Horse Cave, KY we stopped at another roadfood.com joint outside of Nashville called Sylvan Park Restaurant. Another gem - catfish, fried crab cakes, candied apples, the best mac and cheese ever, fried corn, incredible cornbread, cocunut cream pie (they threw in a couple extra slices for the road on the house) and chess pie. We had never heard of chess pie - amazing! They actually gave us their recipe so we'll be eating it again soon. http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=472
Tuesday - Took a trip over to Abe Lincoln's birthplace and boyhood home in Hodgenville, KY. http://www.nps.gov/abli/ Great visitor's center and a really impressive monument to Abe Lincoln with 56 steps for each year of his life. The actual water spring that they used for their water supply was still there and still running. From there we made one last stop in Cincinnati at William Howard Taft's boyhood home. http://www.nps.gov/wiho/ It is the only national site dedicated to Taft and it is worth the stop. I only wish we had a little more time to spend there to look through the exhibits on the upper level of the house. Roadfood directed us to the Camp Washington Chili joint in Cincinnati for the last meal of the trip. Great diner atmosphere and great 5 way chili, but while the locals might disagree with me on this one, it wasn't necessarily better than Skyline Chili.
I highly recommend taking a trip like this. You will find it incredibly relaxing, educational, and rewarding. Make the drive itself the destination and see things you normally wouldn't. The kids had a blast - it was a total adventure for them and they were exposed to so much history and culture. The people we met along the way were all friendly and helpful and we came away with a new appreciation for regions we had never experienced.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
The Beatles, Chris Whitley, Gov't Mule, Metallica, Ian McCulloch
Stuff I've been listening to the last several days:
The Beatles - Abbey Road I find "The End" to be a very poignant goodbye - maybe it's me but it seems you can feel them jamming and cruising to the end knowing that they are signing off for posterity... an emotional moment in popular music history. Also way underrated is "Oh! Darling".
Chris Whitley - Live in Bremen 9-19-98 Chris Whitley was a very interesting and mostly unknown artist who sadly passed away from lung cancer in 2005 at the age of 45. This is an unreleased recording of Chris with his guitar and stomping his boot for percussion. Great bluesy stuff with Chris's unique aching vocals. Need to dig deeper into his catalogue...
Gov't Mule - High and Mighty One of my favorite albums of this decade without a doubt. I'll be road tripping this weekend and I can't wait to pop this one in again when I'm out on the open road cruising through Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi... this will be one I'll be listening to for the rest of my life guaranteed. Warren Haynes is one of the greatest guitarists of all time, one of the greatest singers on the planet, and for my money developing into one of the best songwriters in rock. I'm not exaggerating.
Metallica - Death Magnetic I'm still going back and forth on this one. It's definitely good - maybe the best since ...And Justice For All, but that alone doesn't mean it's a masterpiece since nothing they've done since Justice has been close by comparison. Not to say they've recorded a bad album, but they haven't quite been able to reach greatness again. This one seems to come close and a few tracks get there, but there are usually a few tracks that get there on each of the recent Metallica albums along with a few garbage tracks (see Don't Tread On Me, Wasting My Hate, Poor Twisted Me, The Unforgiven II, Where The Wild Things Are, Shoot Me Again etc.). So does this album approach greatness? I don't think it's going to quite get there for me, but I'm still pleased. "All Nightmare Long" is worth the price of admission alone - a classic.
Ian McCulloch - Slidling I pulled this one out the other day realizing that I had never given it a proper run through, and I was pleasantly surprised at the energy level - this album jams and the songs are strong. I was expecting a more mellow outing without Will Sergeant doing the shredding. Upon first listen this jams more than Ian's other two solo albums.
The Beatles - Abbey Road I find "The End" to be a very poignant goodbye - maybe it's me but it seems you can feel them jamming and cruising to the end knowing that they are signing off for posterity... an emotional moment in popular music history. Also way underrated is "Oh! Darling".
Chris Whitley - Live in Bremen 9-19-98 Chris Whitley was a very interesting and mostly unknown artist who sadly passed away from lung cancer in 2005 at the age of 45. This is an unreleased recording of Chris with his guitar and stomping his boot for percussion. Great bluesy stuff with Chris's unique aching vocals. Need to dig deeper into his catalogue...
Gov't Mule - High and Mighty One of my favorite albums of this decade without a doubt. I'll be road tripping this weekend and I can't wait to pop this one in again when I'm out on the open road cruising through Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi... this will be one I'll be listening to for the rest of my life guaranteed. Warren Haynes is one of the greatest guitarists of all time, one of the greatest singers on the planet, and for my money developing into one of the best songwriters in rock. I'm not exaggerating.
Metallica - Death Magnetic I'm still going back and forth on this one. It's definitely good - maybe the best since ...And Justice For All, but that alone doesn't mean it's a masterpiece since nothing they've done since Justice has been close by comparison. Not to say they've recorded a bad album, but they haven't quite been able to reach greatness again. This one seems to come close and a few tracks get there, but there are usually a few tracks that get there on each of the recent Metallica albums along with a few garbage tracks (see Don't Tread On Me, Wasting My Hate, Poor Twisted Me, The Unforgiven II, Where The Wild Things Are, Shoot Me Again etc.). So does this album approach greatness? I don't think it's going to quite get there for me, but I'm still pleased. "All Nightmare Long" is worth the price of admission alone - a classic.
Ian McCulloch - Slidling I pulled this one out the other day realizing that I had never given it a proper run through, and I was pleasantly surprised at the energy level - this album jams and the songs are strong. I was expecting a more mellow outing without Will Sergeant doing the shredding. Upon first listen this jams more than Ian's other two solo albums.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Short entry - Thomas Jefferson, Prince, Jimi Hendrix
Just finished reading American Sphinx which is one of the best books I've ever read, and Thomas Jefferson is one of the most fascinating Americans of all time. What a story! I cannot wait to get to Monticello to check out his home. This should be required reading for every American. What an idealist and a real rebel.
Sometimes in acquiring more music than I can digest I end up revisiting a disc that I overlooked and end up pleasantly surprised. This happened this past weekend with The Slaughterhouse by Prince from 2004. What a nasty burning slab of funk - crazy that he can lay down grooves like this and they never see commercial release. This one isn't easy to find - it was originally available as a download from his website... worth tracking down if you can get your hands on it. Prince churns out so much material it can be hard to keep up. This one along with The Chocolate Invasion are actually better than a couple of his latest commercial releases such as Planet Earth (maybe my least favorite Prince album ever) and Musicology.
Threw on Are You Experienced? by The Jimi Hendrix Experience as well. Man... I can't imagine what it must have been like for people to throw this on for the first time in 1967. Still amazes... as does everything he did. I need to remember sometimes when people ask me what I'm listening to these days to simply answer Hendrix, Zeppelin and Sabbath. That will never be the wrong answer.
That's all I have for now...
Sometimes in acquiring more music than I can digest I end up revisiting a disc that I overlooked and end up pleasantly surprised. This happened this past weekend with The Slaughterhouse by Prince from 2004. What a nasty burning slab of funk - crazy that he can lay down grooves like this and they never see commercial release. This one isn't easy to find - it was originally available as a download from his website... worth tracking down if you can get your hands on it. Prince churns out so much material it can be hard to keep up. This one along with The Chocolate Invasion are actually better than a couple of his latest commercial releases such as Planet Earth (maybe my least favorite Prince album ever) and Musicology.
Threw on Are You Experienced? by The Jimi Hendrix Experience as well. Man... I can't imagine what it must have been like for people to throw this on for the first time in 1967. Still amazes... as does everything he did. I need to remember sometimes when people ask me what I'm listening to these days to simply answer Hendrix, Zeppelin and Sabbath. That will never be the wrong answer.
That's all I have for now...
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Dancing Wolverines, "Siriusly" annoyed, REO (don't laugh), Deep Purple, Singalong...
I'll just start by saying how awesome it is for Michigan to be back in the big dance. Sure the announcement isn't until tomorrow, but we are in - there is no doubt, and it's been a long time coming. We deserve this after all the crap we've been through with knucklehead players taking money under the not-very-watchful eyes of Steve Fisher and Brian Ellerbe, and a couple of near-misses by good guy and good coach Tommy Amaker trying to rebuild under tough circumstances. Coach Beilein has come in and established a new culture and new work ethic, and now we've got a fast growing program which is growing the right way. I'm so proud to have a team like this representing the maize and blue. Can't wait for the Big Dance!!!
I'm still struggling with Sirius/XM. Sometimes it's great and sometimes it sucks. The commercial free element is great, but the DJs still suck and talk over the beginning of songs just like cheesy terrestrial radio DJs, stations repeat songs - sometimes repeating what is obviously a programmed playlist up to three times in a 6 hour span, and they pull crap like playing the "Who Are You" radio edit on the 70's station where the track is chopped up and massacred - something you would think you had left behind when you paid to sign up for satellite.
On the plus side I also heard some great stuff today on Sirius. The original 1974 REO Speedwagon studio version of "Ridin' The Storm Out" with Mike Murphy on vocals after Kevin Cronin had been kicked out of the band - but before he had eventually rejoined the band for their eventual arena rock domination... Kevin Cronin actually was REO's second and fourth lead singer. You may think I'm kidding but Gary Richrath was a badass lead guitarist in his prime - one of the more underrated guitarists. Not sure how REO found their way into my blog for a full paragraph but some of their stuff including a few of their power ballads ("Time For Me To Fly", "Take It On The Run", "Keep On Loving You") are still guilty pleasures for me.... Check out this allmusic review of Hi Infidelity - I couldn't have said it better myself. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:d9fyxqt5ld0e
Also heard an abundance of Deep Purple which only served to remind me that they are woefully underrepresented in my catalogue. I'm familiar with a good deal of their stuff but nowhere near enough. I heard "Hush", "Highway Star", "Burn" and Dream Theater's cover of "Perfect Strangers" which I didn't know existed - that was a rush. Perfect Strangers was one of the great true reunion albums of all time and the title track is one of the coolest and downright heaviest Deep Purple tracks ever. I own that album on vinyl only and probably haven't listened to the whole thing in 20 years. I have 1972's mandatory Machine Head which is the obvious masterpiece and the place to start if you've made the mistake of overlooking the mighty Purple, Burn - a great 1974 album from the Glenn Hughes/David Coverdale era, and Nothing's Perfect - a decent live release from the 1987 tour right before the original lineup imploded again... I've got a lot of catching up to do. According to allmusic.com their last few (yes they are still releasing albums) are damn good. Sure there is no Ritchie Blackmore or Jon Lord, but the one consistent thing about Deep Purple from day one is great material from multiple eras with inconsistent lineups, so as long as Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, and Ian Paice are involved for example, I'm interested.
Also heard "Hey Jude" in the car on the way to Perry, MI for my daughter's Odyssey Of The Mind regionals today which prompted the two of us to gleefully sing the "Naaaa naa naa na na na naaaa, na na na naaaa Hey Jude" part the whole way through. Got me thinking about a list of my top singalongs - with a couple exceptions they are mostly the "na na nas" or the "la la las" with a few "woo woo woos" and even a "bam bam bam" combined with a couple "doo doo doos"
1. "Hey Jude" The Beatles then you can start to make it better better better better better better ahhh....
2. "(Don't You) Forget About Me" Simple Minds ...sir could you describe the ruckus? (okay not from the song but I couldn't resist)
3. "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" Journey now it's your turn girl to cry...
4. "40" U2 how long?
5. "Silver" Echo and The Bunnymen you're living proof at my fingertips...
6. "Miss You" The Rolling Stones sometimes I say to - to myself - sometimes I say...
7. "Temptation" New Order oh you've got green eyes...
8. "Second Hand News" Fleetwood Mac won't you lay me down in the tall grass and let me do my stuff...
9. "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" Crosby Stills and Nash I am yours you are mine you are what you are...
10. "Lola" The Kinks girls will be boys and boys will be girls...
Honorable mention goes to "Day Old Blues" by Kings of Leon - kids love to sing this one...
I'm still struggling with Sirius/XM. Sometimes it's great and sometimes it sucks. The commercial free element is great, but the DJs still suck and talk over the beginning of songs just like cheesy terrestrial radio DJs, stations repeat songs - sometimes repeating what is obviously a programmed playlist up to three times in a 6 hour span, and they pull crap like playing the "Who Are You" radio edit on the 70's station where the track is chopped up and massacred - something you would think you had left behind when you paid to sign up for satellite.
On the plus side I also heard some great stuff today on Sirius. The original 1974 REO Speedwagon studio version of "Ridin' The Storm Out" with Mike Murphy on vocals after Kevin Cronin had been kicked out of the band - but before he had eventually rejoined the band for their eventual arena rock domination... Kevin Cronin actually was REO's second and fourth lead singer. You may think I'm kidding but Gary Richrath was a badass lead guitarist in his prime - one of the more underrated guitarists. Not sure how REO found their way into my blog for a full paragraph but some of their stuff including a few of their power ballads ("Time For Me To Fly", "Take It On The Run", "Keep On Loving You") are still guilty pleasures for me.... Check out this allmusic review of Hi Infidelity - I couldn't have said it better myself. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:d9fyxqt5ld0e
Also heard an abundance of Deep Purple which only served to remind me that they are woefully underrepresented in my catalogue. I'm familiar with a good deal of their stuff but nowhere near enough. I heard "Hush", "Highway Star", "Burn" and Dream Theater's cover of "Perfect Strangers" which I didn't know existed - that was a rush. Perfect Strangers was one of the great true reunion albums of all time and the title track is one of the coolest and downright heaviest Deep Purple tracks ever. I own that album on vinyl only and probably haven't listened to the whole thing in 20 years. I have 1972's mandatory Machine Head which is the obvious masterpiece and the place to start if you've made the mistake of overlooking the mighty Purple, Burn - a great 1974 album from the Glenn Hughes/David Coverdale era, and Nothing's Perfect - a decent live release from the 1987 tour right before the original lineup imploded again... I've got a lot of catching up to do. According to allmusic.com their last few (yes they are still releasing albums) are damn good. Sure there is no Ritchie Blackmore or Jon Lord, but the one consistent thing about Deep Purple from day one is great material from multiple eras with inconsistent lineups, so as long as Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, and Ian Paice are involved for example, I'm interested.
Also heard "Hey Jude" in the car on the way to Perry, MI for my daughter's Odyssey Of The Mind regionals today which prompted the two of us to gleefully sing the "Naaaa naa naa na na na naaaa, na na na naaaa Hey Jude" part the whole way through. Got me thinking about a list of my top singalongs - with a couple exceptions they are mostly the "na na nas" or the "la la las" with a few "woo woo woos" and even a "bam bam bam" combined with a couple "doo doo doos"
1. "Hey Jude" The Beatles then you can start to make it better better better better better better ahhh....
2. "(Don't You) Forget About Me" Simple Minds ...sir could you describe the ruckus? (okay not from the song but I couldn't resist)
3. "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" Journey now it's your turn girl to cry...
4. "40" U2 how long?
5. "Silver" Echo and The Bunnymen you're living proof at my fingertips...
6. "Miss You" The Rolling Stones sometimes I say to - to myself - sometimes I say...
7. "Temptation" New Order oh you've got green eyes...
8. "Second Hand News" Fleetwood Mac won't you lay me down in the tall grass and let me do my stuff...
9. "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" Crosby Stills and Nash I am yours you are mine you are what you are...
10. "Lola" The Kinks girls will be boys and boys will be girls...
Honorable mention goes to "Day Old Blues" by Kings of Leon - kids love to sing this one...
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
With The Power Of Soul Anything Is Possible - Jimi Hendrix
Stuff I've been listening to the last few days.... a few quick thoughts:
Band of Gypsies - Jimi Hendrix Is it me or is the version of "Power of Soul" which was released on Live at the Fillmore East about 3 times better than the version they picked for the Band of Gypsies album? Much more energy and the playing is just better. Buddy Miles bangs on the drums with more purpose and the solos are scorching - one of the best single live Jimi recordings. The only problem with the Band of Gypsies album is that every time I listen I end up with the "Who Knows" groove in my head for a whole day. Actually it's not a bad thing...
10,000 Days - Tool I think I've decided that Tool might be the most challenging band in the world. It literally takes years for me to "master" a Tool album, and I think they actually get more challenging with each one they make. They only release a new one every 5 years so it works out. I don't mean to make it sound like work because it's not - it's totally worth it. They are amazing, heavy as can be, disturbing, progressive and unique. No one but Tool has ever sounded like Tool.
Music From Big Pink - The Band I'm a little embarrassed to say I didn't really discover The Band until a few years ago but obviously I'm glad I did...
Because of the Times - Kings Of Leon All four Kings Of Leon albums are great. I don't find any one of the four to be better than any of the others...
Master Of The Moon - Dio After the first four Dio albums in the 80's (which I love) I started to lose interest - don't really know why but I still have never actually heard the three 90's Dio albums (not counting the 1992 Sabbath album Dehumanizer which was awesome). However, a review I read for 2000's Magica captured my attention and I got it and I think it's as good as any Dio album if not better. The next two are both pretty good as well including 2004's Master of the Moon. It's exactly what you would expect from Dio - witches, sailing away, evil, crucifixion etc. and that's exactly what makes it great. His voice is just as strong as it ever was, and I can't wait for the new Black Sabbath album coming out this year with Dio - the Mob Rules/Dehumanizer lineup.
Boston - Boston I will never get sick of this album - I can hear it a thousand times and I still love it every time.
Leviathan - Mastodon I really tried to like this album and I just don't get it. Way too busy and over the top. I just do not like this. I don't recommend it.
Band of Gypsies - Jimi Hendrix Is it me or is the version of "Power of Soul" which was released on Live at the Fillmore East about 3 times better than the version they picked for the Band of Gypsies album? Much more energy and the playing is just better. Buddy Miles bangs on the drums with more purpose and the solos are scorching - one of the best single live Jimi recordings. The only problem with the Band of Gypsies album is that every time I listen I end up with the "Who Knows" groove in my head for a whole day. Actually it's not a bad thing...
10,000 Days - Tool I think I've decided that Tool might be the most challenging band in the world. It literally takes years for me to "master" a Tool album, and I think they actually get more challenging with each one they make. They only release a new one every 5 years so it works out. I don't mean to make it sound like work because it's not - it's totally worth it. They are amazing, heavy as can be, disturbing, progressive and unique. No one but Tool has ever sounded like Tool.
Music From Big Pink - The Band I'm a little embarrassed to say I didn't really discover The Band until a few years ago but obviously I'm glad I did...
Because of the Times - Kings Of Leon All four Kings Of Leon albums are great. I don't find any one of the four to be better than any of the others...
Master Of The Moon - Dio After the first four Dio albums in the 80's (which I love) I started to lose interest - don't really know why but I still have never actually heard the three 90's Dio albums (not counting the 1992 Sabbath album Dehumanizer which was awesome). However, a review I read for 2000's Magica captured my attention and I got it and I think it's as good as any Dio album if not better. The next two are both pretty good as well including 2004's Master of the Moon. It's exactly what you would expect from Dio - witches, sailing away, evil, crucifixion etc. and that's exactly what makes it great. His voice is just as strong as it ever was, and I can't wait for the new Black Sabbath album coming out this year with Dio - the Mob Rules/Dehumanizer lineup.
Boston - Boston I will never get sick of this album - I can hear it a thousand times and I still love it every time.
Leviathan - Mastodon I really tried to like this album and I just don't get it. Way too busy and over the top. I just do not like this. I don't recommend it.
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